Motor Oil Too Heavy Or Light?

[mdechgan]

Hi guys I need your help.

I am currently rebuilding my engine.

The internals are pretty bad.

Is my motor oil too heavy or too light?

Lots of varnish and sludge.

[fredob43]

Having been in the motor trade may I make a suggestion. This look's like a classic case of overheating. It could have been the wrong oil but more likely. Cooling, rad, thermostat, water pump, oil pump, with that much burnt oil it might have buggered the head. Get it looked at. Could be cheaper to get a replacement engine. Then use the oil recomended by the manufacturer. There's load's of secondhand engine's over here as well. Unless you have all the right tool's, book's, on taut setting's ect your just going to cost yourself even more money, and agro:

[denboy]

Make sure your engine breather is functioning properly, theres a valve (PCV) somewhere that pulls fumes and water vapour out of the crank case, keeping it clean. Regular oil change is a must if you want the motor to last. l have always used Synthetic oils in road and race cars which will greatly reduce internal sludge etc. Can't see if the crank journals are damaged from your pics (my eyes) or if the bearings were naff. How many miles has it done? Were the bores scored?

Looking at your pics your crank pins appear to be ok, you never mentioned what kind of engine it is, Petrol or Diesel and why you are stripping it down for rebuild.

Either it has bee grossly overheated as already suggested or it has been neglected in engine oil changes.

If it is a delivery vehicle where you are frequently stopping and starting the engine, this hastens the action of sludge forming in the crankcase.

As for engine oil, it is wise to use the manufactures reccomend oil or the eqevalent from any of the major oil companies.

If you require further help you need to give the guys on the forum more details of the engine failure or the reason for rebuilding it.

If you do go ahead with the rebuild it is reccomended you at least fit a new oil pump.

Keep us informed on your progress.

Cheers

[BSJ]

10W-40 seems to be a popular choice over here for anything after late 80's....or 10w-50 for some. You need to match your oil and oil change intervals to your usage pattern.

In LOS your more than likely to be needing 0W-40 or 5W-40. Check with your local oil supplier for whats best.

[mdechgan]

My car has never overheated, I changed my oil every time never more than 10,000km including filter and always used gasohol 95 no LPG or NGV. I had been using 20W50 but for the last two oil changes I used castrol 10W40. I decided to rebuild the engine myself because the engine just wasn't running good. It had started to have a strong smell of petrol and was losing power not to mention a bad oil leak somewhere near the crankshaft pulley. I don't know if my oil was too light or too heavy or just bad quality oil. My cooling system seems to be fine no leaks etc. Maybe the Bangkok traffic was just too much. The a/c is always on whenever I start the car.

I don't think the rebuild is difficult or costs that much since I am doing the majority of the work myself.

I just want to know why my engine was like this and how I can prevent it.

If 20W50 was too heavy maybe the engine oil wasn't flowing properly, if 10W40 was too light maybe the oil cooks and breaks down too easily. I don't know the cause.

Its an Honda H22a engine by the way. I am replacing the rings, (wiper rings were stuck), crankshaft and rod bearings that's all. Cylinders, crankshaft, pistons seems to be ok. I think the rings were worn out which caused alot of blow-by.

[denboy]

There is no doubt that the blow back via your piston tings is a major factor in the discolouration and sludge in your crankcase, Sludge is mostly generated on intial start-up from the cylinders when the engine is cold.

As for 10.000 Km oil changes, that is something that I have never advocated despite the claims nade by the oil companies on their fantastic products, There are many arguments about this,having run fleets of several hundreds of vehicles in warm climates I err on the side of my own eperience and service the engine 7 to 8.000 KM.

I hope that your cylinder bores are ok and that new ring sets cure the blow blow back etc.

As for engine oil, what is reccomended by the manufacturer?. I use 20/40 with no ill effects on my Nissan Cefiro.

Maybe there is a honda on-line club who can give you more insight.

Enjoy your engine rebuild as there is nothing more satisfying than hearing the rebuild engine firing up and doing the job intended.

Cheers

[WarpSpeed]

Having been in the motor trade may I make a suggestion. This look's like a classic case of overheating. It could have been the wrong oil but more likely. Cooling, rad, thermostat, water pump, oil pump, with that much burnt oil it might have buggered the head. Get it looked at. Could be cheaper to get a replacement engine. Then use the oil recomended by the manufacturer. There's load's of secondhand engine's over here as well. Unless you have all the right tool's, book's, on taut setting's ect your just going to cost yourself even more money, and agro:

Agreed, my first thoughts exactly..What manufacturer is it?

[WarpSpeed]

duplicate post...

[WarpSpeed]

I see bearing scores on the crank the crank should be turned or at a minimum polished and going this far I would do the same for the cylinders I'm not certain your problem originally was anything internal though it sounds more like a fuel problem. Did you do a compression test?

I just bought an older VW and it was knocking and pigging something terrible and is also an LP conversion I brought it to put fuel in it and used only 95 and that solved 90% of the knocking almost immediately and I'm now considering a slight timing retard but it runs perfectly on the LP side so finding the right balance when they require different settings is a real challenge and may be where I'm at now especially since running regular fuel is a back up not primary. But that's part of the problem as gasohol breaks down very quickly and losses it's octane rating so it is important to run it out and refresh often which besides using the cheapest fuel prior the dealer probably did not run out the old fuel..

I found Castrol Syntec to do the best job for my purposes which were more then the average usage under the most extreme conditions of motorsports.. Never had a problem nor blown engine and certainly nothing close to what you are showing, did you have this car since new? There is something here that just doesn't add up... Does a wife or GF use this car? Maybe they did something or didn't do something you don't know about and covered it, it is very fishy, how many KMs/miles?